U.S. Senate:
Rep.
Mark Udall (D) defeated former
Rep. Bob Schaffer (R)
by 52.80% to 42.49%
to gain
the Senate seat held by retiring Sen. Wayne Allard
(R).U.S. House:
Democrats picked up one
House
seat. In the 4th CD
(eastern third of the
state), Betsy Markey (D)defeated Rep.
Marilyn Musgrave (R) by
56.20% to 43.80%. Udall's run
opened the 2nd CD (Boulder and areas NW of
Denver); entrepreneur
Jared Polis (D) defeated Scott
Starin (R) and two others.
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R)'s retirement opened the 6th CD (central CO south
of Denver); Secretary of
State
Mike
Coffman (R) defeated Hank Eng
(D). The
balance
of the U.S. House delegation goes from 4D, 3R in the 110th to 5D,
2R in the 111th Congress.
Post-Election:
On Dec. 17, 2008 President-Elect Obama named Sen. Ken Salazar (D) as
his nominee for Secretary of the Interior. On Jan.
3, 2009 Gov. Ritter announced the
appointment of Denver Public Schools
Superintendent Michael Bennet to succeed Salazar; Bennet was sworn in
on Jan. 22.
> Democrats pick up
U.S. Senate seat and one U.S. House seat.MORE

Voting Eligible Population*: 3,441,907.VEP Highest Office
Turnout Rate: 69.8%.Early voting:
Begins
at the early voters' polling place for the general election on Oct. 20,
2008 (15 days before the election) and runs through Oct. 31, 2008.

Mail-In Ballots Sent

1,633,190

61.9%

Mail-In
Ballots Rec'd

1,339,065

50.8%

Early Voting Ballots Cast

365,215

13.8%

as a percent of 2,638,211
active reg. voters.

MIB

EV

Dem.

376,716

111,859

Rep.

370,247

95,622

Total Registration: 2,626,175
(active).Registration
deadline: Oct.
6, 2008 (no later than 29 days before the election).

Key Dates (See
Colorado
Democratic Party "How to Participate..." [PDF])Dec. 5, 2007 - In
order
to participate in the caucus process, a voter must be registered as a
Democrat
by Dec. 5.Feb. 5, 2008 -
Precinct
caucuses.Feb. 20-March 18,
2008 -
County assemblies and conventions.May 3-16, 2008 -
Congressional
district conventions and assemblies.May 17, 2008 -
State Assembly/Convention
at World Arena in Colorado Springs.

Huckabee
| McCain
| Paul
| RomneyformerGiulianiTancredo -
The Congressman
from Colorado's 6th CD formed a presidential exploratory committee in
Jan.
2007, announced his candidacy on April 2, 2007, but and ended his
campaign
and endorsed Romney on Dec. 20, 2007. >

Setting the Caucuses
DateH.B. 1376 (“Precinct
Caucus
Day in Presidential Year”), passed by the legislature and signed by
Gov.
Bill Ritter (D) on June 1, 2007, states that a political party may, by
decision of its state central committee, hold its precinct caucuses on
the first Tuesday in February. On July 21, 2007 Colorado
Democrats
voted at their executive committee meeting in Pueblo to hold their
caucuses
on Feb. 5, 2008. "By moving this date forward in the election
cycle
Colorado takes a greater role in deciding the who becomes the next
president,"
stated Pat Waak, Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, in a press
release.
In August 2007 the Colorado Republican State Central Committee likewise
voted, by a margin of 71 percent to 29 percent, to change its precinct
caucus date from March 18 to Feb. 5. "This move should increase
campaign
activity in Colorado by all the Republican presidential candidates,"
Chair
of the Colorado Republican Party Dick Wadhams stated in a press
release.Note: Colorado Democrats
were among the state parties that applied
[PDF] to the DNC in April 2006 to hold a pre-window caucus (between
Iowa
and New Hampshire), but the DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee
recommended
Nevada. The state legislature would have had to approve the
change
or the party would have had to split the caucuses.

2004
OverviewDemocrats made a
play for
Colorado, and although the brothers Salazar picked up the open U.S.
Senate
and U.S. House seats, the Kerry-Edwards ticket fell short. Bush
achieved
a plurality of 99,523 votes (4.67 percentage points).General
Election DetailsKerry/Allies
| Bush-Cheney
'04

2000
OverviewBush won Colorado
with a
plurality of 145,521 votes (8.36 percentage points) and carried 50 of
the
state's 63 counties. In contrast to 1996, when Colorado experienced a
dogfight
in the presidential race, the Gore camp did not target the state,
making
for a quiet general election campaign. During the post-convention
period
Colorado only merited one visit each from the running mates.
Ralph
Nader made a couple of visits after the Greens convention in June
(Sept.
8-10 and a final stop on Nov. 2), and his 5.25% proved to be one of his
better showings. Down-ticket there were various initiative
campaigns,
and Colorado Democrats managed to wrest control of the State Senate
from
the GOP, for their only legislative chamber pick-up in the country.General
Election Activity